City kids may have more food allergies, but apparently New Yorkers' lifespan has increased for the past ten years, while other cities' numbers are dropping. Why? Public health advocates and nutrition initiatives may be the reason.

Over the last decade, the health department phased out whole milk from school systems, made calorie labels for chain food mandatory, and banned trans fats. The city also prohibited smoking in public areas, upped taxes on cigarettes, created new bike lanes, and funded campaigns educating readers on the risk of obesity.

The Lancet reports that "more than 60 percent of the increase in life expectancy since 2000 can be attributed to reductions in heart disease, cancer, diabetes, and stroke. In the past decade, death rates for heart disease alone fell by some 25 percent."